These chicken lettuce wraps contain ground chicken and veggies cooked in a savory sauce and served in cool lettuce leaves. A PF Chang’s copycat recipe that’s super easy to make and tastes just as good as the restaurant version!
I can never resist ordering chicken lettuce cups when I see them on the appetizer menu at my favorite Asian restaurant. They’re flavorful, yet light enough to be the perfect start to the meal. Serve your lettuce wraps with other Asian food recipes such as Spam fried rice, Buddha’s delight, Hunan chicken, Kung Pao beef, vegetable lo mein and potstickers.
If you’re all about a quick and delicious lunch or dinner, these chicken lettuce wraps are quite satisfying. Made with light and healthy ground chicken, PF Chang’s lettuce wraps are even great for a party appetizer. Plus, they’re easy as can be which makes them even better!
Table of Contents
Chicken Lettuce Wraps Ingredients
This recipe is made with ground chicken, mushrooms, vegetable oil, onions, sesame oil, butter lettuce (also known as bibb lettuce), hoisin sauce, water chestnuts, ginger, garlic cloves, salt, black pepper, soy sauce, rice vinegar and green onions.
How Do You Make Chicken Lettuce Wraps?
Place the vegetable oil in a pan or large skillet, then add the chicken. Cook the chicken and season it with salt and pepper. Next, add the mushrooms and onions to the pan, and cook until the veggies are tender. Stir in water chestnuts, garlic and ginger. Make the sauce by whisking together hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil. Pour the sauce into the chicken mixture, and stir to combine. Add a sprinkle of green onions, then spoon the chicken mixture into lettuce leaves and serve immediately.
Tips For The Perfect Dish
- Hoisin sauce is a sweet and savory sauce that can be found in the ethnic foods aisle of most grocery stores. It is a critical flavor component of this dish and there is not a great substitute.
- Choose ground chicken that is 96% lean for the best results. This is the ground chicken thighs blend, as ground chicken breast may be dry in this recipe.
- The leftover chicken mixture will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Store it separate from the lettuce in an airtight container.
- Looking for a spicier option? Feel free to add some sriracha or red pepper flakes.
- You can also serve the chicken mixture over a bed of lettuce as a main course salad offering for a different take on this dish!
Quick Tip
I find that shiitake mushrooms give this recipe the most authentic flavor. You can also use diced button mushrooms if that is what you have on hand.
Recipe FAQs
Chicken lettuce wraps contain ground chicken, garlic, ginger, onions, mushrooms and water chestnuts in a sauce of hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and soy sauce. The chicken mixture is served in lettuce leaves.
When I serve this dish as a meal, I often do a side of steamed white rice. Asian style noodles would also be a great choice. You can also serve your lettuce cups alongside other Asian inspired appetizers such as egg rolls or fried wontons.
I recommend using butter lettuce for wraps, as it has a sweet mild flavor and the leaves are naturally rounded into cups to hold all that great filling. Iceberg lettuce and romaine lettuce are other great options. For a more vibrantly colored dish, try red leaf lettuce.
It’s important to make sure your lettuce is very dry before you make your wraps. If the lettuce is wet, the moisture can make the filling soggy. I recommend using a salad spinner to get all the water off your lettuce. You should also only fill your lettuce cups at the last second right before eating, because they can get soggy if they sit for an extended period of time.
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Flavor Variations
While this recipe is fabulous as-is, you can change up the ingredients to customize the flavors to your tastes.
- Protein: You can use ground turkey, ground pork or ground beef instead of chicken. If you’re a seafood lover, try using coarsely chopped shrimp.
- Vegetables: Feel free to add other veggies to the mix such as shredded carrot, finely diced zucchini or chopped bell peppers.
- Toppings: Finish your lettuce wraps with fun toppings such as sesame seeds, chopped peanut, sliced almonds, wonton strips, or crispy rice noodles.
- Lettuce: Swap out the butter lettuce for romaine lettuce, cabbage leaves or iceberg lettuce.
I love how easy these chicken lettuce wraps are to make. I’ve served them at get togethers before and they always go over extremely well. I think people really enjoy a delicious yet healthier option when it comes to parties.
More Asian Inspired Recipes You’ll Love
Chicken Lettuce Wraps Video
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Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 5 ounces shiitake mushrooms stems discarded, caps finely diced
- 1/2 cup onion finely diced
- 8 ounce can water chestnuts drained and finely diced
- 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- salt and pepper to taste
- 5 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1/3 cup sliced green onions
- 1 head butter lettuce leaves separated
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Add the chicken and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Cook the chicken for 5-6 minutes, breaking up the meat with a spatula, until mostly cooked through.
- Add the mushrooms and onion to the pan. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until vegetables are soft.
- Stir in the water chestnuts, garlic and ginger. Cook for 1 more minute.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil.
- Pour the sauce over the ground chicken mixture and toss to coat evenly.
- Sprinkle the green onions over the chicken mixture.
- Spoon the chicken into the lettuce leaves and serve.
Notes
- Hoisin sauce is a sweet and savory sauce that can be found in the ethnic foods aisle of most grocery stores. It is a critical flavor component of this dish and there is not a great substitute.
- I find that shiitake mushrooms give this recipe the most authentic flavor. You can also use diced button mushrooms if that is what you have on hand.
- Choose ground chicken that is 96% lean for the best results.
I made this tonight, was excellent☺. Thank you so much Sara.
Can I make a day ahead? To reheat do you need to add water or chicken stock?
Yes you can make a day ahead! You shouldn’t have to add anything.
Amazingly delicious, easy to make low calorie. So very tasty. I had some leftover rice so decided to make a side of fried rice. Will make this dish over and over. Didn’t have hoison sauce so added brown sugar, oyster sauce,fish sauce, rice vinegar,soy sauce and sesame oil..YUM!!!!
This was delicious! I served it with a gluten free pasta and it received rave reviews. I made a homemade hoisin sauce which worked well. It’s a recipe I’ll return to.
This. Was. SO. Good! We made it when we had people over for dinner and I’m sad because we made a ton and there were NO leftovers. My husband said this is one of his favorite meals I’ve ever made, and he likes almost all of the meals I’ve made. This is going to the top of our repertoire- healthy, simple, and so amazingly delicious! Thank you for an amazing recipie!
I made these today for lunch for the week and of course had to taste test them lol! These are so good and easy to put together. The most time consuming thing about them is dicing the mushrooms and water chestnuts. I couldn’t find shiitake mushrooms so I used regular mushrooms instead. I did use fresh garlic and ginger. I’ll be keeping this recipe in my rotation, thanks for the great recipe!
Sounds amazing
I made this yesterday evening and it was delicious! I cannot have onion or garlic, however I replaced onion with shredded carrots and prepared with no Gallic and it was amazing. Thank you!
Can u use dry ginger and how much?
Yes use 1/4 teaspoon dried ginger!
PF Change recipe adds 8 oz. of water which makes it juicier and tones it down a bit. Also a bit of sweetener improves the overall flavor. Having said all that, I admit to having used ground ginger and powdered garlic. Fresh is always better. I may try again. Thanks.
Is the 301 cal per lettuce wrap?
It’s per serving, which would be 3 wraps.
My daughter basically followed the recipe last night, and it was delicious! I know what you are talking about with dinner being a zoo: with 7 children in 11 years, dinner time could be pretty stressful! Now each one of our children can cook–nearly 5 of them having “graduated” from home, and so it is a really a gift to see the satisfaction they get from preparing meals for themselves and others. Thanks so much for going to all this work to share this yummy recipe with all of us!!
So glad you enjoyed this one, hats off to you for having 7 children!!
I followed this recipe exactly. It was perfect!!! Made with coconut steamed rice. Incredible. Family loved it.
SO glad to hear you enjoyed it, thanks for commenting!
Coconut rice?
I love this recipe. My entire family loves it! I added peanuts, bell peppers, and carrots. I just made sure they are all the same size. I had to bulk it up and add more veggies because I have a toddler son. 🙂 So so yummy!
So glad you enjoyed it, thank you for leaving a comment!
Do you have to use mushrooms? I have a reaction to them so I never use them. This recipe is just what I was looking for.
You can omit the mushrooms!
I make these all the time now! One of my family’s most requested dish!
Looking forward to trying. Lovechicken lettuce wraps. Now will be able to make them instead of finding someplace to order the
Hope you enjoy!
Can i freeze left overs?
Yes that should work just fine!
Just made these tonight and everyone, including my 5 and 3 year olds, gobbled them up! Made them exactly by the recipe except using turkey instead of chicken. Thanks for a new healthy, easy dinner option!
So glad to hear you enjoyed it, thank you for reporting back!
Made it tonight. Oh my gosh! Delicious. I used what I had for the sauce (soy sauce, hoisin, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, oyster sauce and red chilli flakes). I also added some sesame seeds with the mushrooms and ginger. Husband loved it too. Definitely in the rotation!
So glad you enjoyed this recipe, thanks for reporting back!